To save money in a time of budget stress, RTD is canceling plans to spend $29 million on 60 new buses to replace its fleet of 10-year-old intercity coaches that are used for the DIA skyRide and other long-distance routes.
The about 70 intercity buses in the Regional Transportation District’s current fleet have been driven an average of 750,000 miles apiece and some have accumulated 1 million miles of service, said Dean Shaklee, RTD’s general superintendent of maintenance.
RTD has found rust and structural cracks on some of the buses, but the maintenance department has a program in place to repair the coaches and keep them going for some time, Shaklee said. “These buses are designed to go over a million miles.”
Regulations of the U.S. Transportation Department’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration say the frame or chassis of commercial motor vehicles cannot be “cracked, loose, sagging or broken.”
Cracked frames can be repaired according to the bus manufacturer’s specifications, Shaklee said.
“We can clean up the crack area and weld a reinforcement plate on,” said Lou Ha, RTD’s manager of technical services for the bus maintenance operation.
The buses get full end-to-end inspections every 6,000 miles, according to Shaklee.
On Thursday, body shop mechanics John Shaver and Joe Lopez worked on one of the intercity coaches to replace steel main-frame braces that support air bellows on the bus. The bellows — air-filled, balloonlike devices — replace springs on the buses and help deliver a smoother ride.
“These guys are craftsmen,” Shaklee said of the mechanics.
RTD planned to retire about 10 of its intercity buses, the “worst of the worst,” and replace the rest at a cost of about $500,000 a bus, said Ron Dodsworth, assistant general manager for bus operations.
But the agency’s budget squeeze has led it to extend the life of the current fleet while the agency bids for state transit funds to replace 30 of the vehicles.
RTD has applied for $15 million from the Colorado Department of Transportation’s transit fund, but there is intense competition from transit agencies across Colorado.
Federal rules allow RTD to replace buses once they are 12 years old or have accumulated 500,000 miles. The agency owns a total of 1,060 buses, operating 624 itself and leasing 436 to private contractors
RTD is scrambling for savings because sales-tax receipts — which account for about two-thirds of RTD’s revenues — are expected to be about $15.4 million lower this year than originally forecast.
At the same time, diesel fuel costs have risen dramatically. RTD’s current forecast calls for it to pay an average of $4.55 a gallon for diesel next year; if that price holds, it could mean a $15.5 million hike in RTD’s diesel bill for 2009.
Jeffrey Leib: 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com
